15 Facts About Saudia

Saudia, formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah.

Saudia is a member and one of the founders of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

The nation's flag carrier, Saudia, was founded as Saudi Arabian Airlines in September 1945 as a fully owned government agency under the control of the Ministry of Defense, with TWA running the airline under a management contract.

The Special Flight Services was set up as a special unit of Saudia, and operates special flights for the royal family and government agencies.

The Saudia name was dropped in the identity revamp, with Saudi Arabian Airlines name used.

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In preparation for this, the airline was restructured to allow non-core units—including Saudia catering, ground handling services and maintenance as well as the Prince Sultan Aviation Academy in Jeddah—to be transformed into commercial units and profit centers.

In 2006, Saudia began the process of dividing itself into Strategic Business Units ; the catering unit was the first to be privatized.

Airline reverted to its abbreviated English brand name Saudia from Saudi Arabian Airlines on 29 May 2012; the name was changed to celebrate the company's entry into the SkyTeam airline alliance on that day, and it was a part of a larger rebranding initiative.

In December 2021, Saudia was in talks with the two major aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing in purchasing new wide-body aircraft, the airline will decide in early 2022 whether it will order the Airbus A350 or the Boeing 777X, or it might purchase more Boeing 787's instead.

In July 2022 Saudia signed a contract with the Air Connectivity Programme to launch four new destinations to Zurich, Barcelona, Tunis and Kuala Lumpur.

Saudia was named the World's Most Improved Airline' for 2017 and 2020 by SkyTrax.

Saudia was the main sponsor of the Williams Formula One team from 1977 to 1984.

Saudia was main sponsor of the 2018 and 2019 Diriyah ePrix.

Saudia recently announced destinations to Batumi, Chicago, Seoul, Bangkok, Beijing, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Moscow, Entebbe, Kyiv and Zurich.

Saudia has codeshare agreements with SkyTeam partners and with the following airlines:.